New to Shreveport
by TasteTrueBlood
Summary: Excerpt: two vampires and a human meet in Fangtasia. Though the conversations are pleasant, there are underlying competitions between them. True Blood AU. www dot atasteoftrueblood dot proboards dot com


This is a thread between Amelia Noel, Sophia Christine Moretti, and Casia Silva on the role playing site based on True Blood and the Southern Vampire Mysteries written by Charlaine Harris.

Disclaimer: We are an RPG fantasy and are in no way associated with Charlaine Harris or HBO and True Blood. Some of the names mentioned in this excerpt are original characters found on our site.

Thank you for reading, and stop by to discuss and RP with us!

www[dot]atasteoftrueblood[dot]proboards[dot]com

New to Shreveport

Night had fallen upon Louisiana; vampires across the area would be waking up right now. Amelia Noel was one of them. She rested the day light in a hole she dug up in the ground. She sat up quickly and her eyes darted around. No one was around her, which is how she wanted it. The last thing she wanted was to be caught covered in dirt, it was a last resort. She was on her way home and miscalculated the time she had to reach home. The morning sun was threatening her and she was weary. She solved the problem by climbing in the dirt.

Bolting up, Amelia brushed as much dirt as she could off her. She would need to go shower and dispose of the clothes she was wearing. A white blouse and a navy blue skirt. It didn't bother her to get rid of them, they weren't the best things in her wardrobe. Taking a second to gather her thoughts she set off running towards her house, she was there in 10 minutes of running. Bursting through the door she ran to her bathroom and showered in a record time of 3 minutes. She slowed down and stepped out of the shower enjoying the smell of cleanliness.

The smell of hot water and soap filled the bathroom as Amelia stepped over to her sink and mirror. She wiped the thin layer of condensation off of it to look at herself. A smile formed on her full lips showing off her pearly white teeth. She retracted her fangs a little bit then hid them once again. It was something that she still wasn't quite used to seeing. Shrugging it off mentally she picked up a towel and began to towel-dry her blond hair.

Soon enough her hair and face were ready for a night out. Amelia had put on black eyeliner and and mascara and put clear lip gloss on her lips. Make-up wise she was finished, she didn't like putting too much on, what was the point? She was already beautiful enough without it. She made her way out of the bathroom and into her room with her closet, she had a good idea what she wanted to wear. A blue cocktail dress she bought recently, she would make tonight the debut of it. She picked it out of the organized closet and quickly put it on. It fit just right, she smiled at how comfortable she was in it. It was a shorter dress that showed off her long pale legs. She pulled on her black pumps and was ready to go.

Grabbing her purse on the way out was the final thing she had to do. Taking in the cool air of the night she strutted to her car, a black Bugatti Veyron 16.4, an expensive sports car. Of course, it was just for looks. A long time friend of hers gave her the car as a gift, a smile formed on her face as she thought about it. She opened the driver's side door and folded herself into the seat. She loved the car, it was flashy and gorgeous. Amelia took her keys out of her purse and put them in the ignition.

Within minutes of fast driving she arrived at the local hot spot. Fangtasia, a gray and red bar in Shreveport. She parked her car and climbed out of it to get a better look at the building. It was a busy night, which was perfect. She'd meet interesting people. Amelia walked over to the door and paid her fee and she was inside the bar. The back of her throat itched with thirst, she decided it'd be important for her to get a True Blood in her before she started meeting people. The bar counter was crowded, but Amelia moved her way through the humans to the bartender, "one B negative," she ordered in a thick French accent. She placed her money on the bar for the bartender and grabbed her warm bottle when it was placed in front of her.

Casia loved being among vampires for some profound reason. She found their company very exciting. With humans, the thrill simply isn't there. Being cut by some wanna-be thug with a knife was much more boring than being bitten by a vampire. Casia put on her dark summer dress and headed to Shrevport. Even though she was relatively new to the area and the South, she still could find her way around thanks to her new vampire friend Sophia and Eric, her love interest. Her confidence that she will not find herself in trouble got the best of her as she walked down the lonely street toward Fangtasia.

She had her identification ready, but she knew the doorman was already familiar with her as she had visited before. Eric was rather fond of her, so she could easily get into the bar. However, there was no need to test that out, so she simply flashed her ID at Pam and entered. The bar was vibrant as usual. She could feel the vampires scrutinize and appraise her as she walked fearless with her head held up high. She saw Eric was busy with something so she took a seat and ordered a Rum and Coke when the waitress arrived.

Casia would have to wait until Eric was finished so she can finally talk to him again. She felt weird feeling so attracted to him, yet she couldn't help it. She wondered if this would end badly, but life was too short to wonder about things. Casia just accepted it just as it was. The waitress had arrived with her drink and she took a sip as she scanned the bar. Most were the same faces who weren't bothered with her anymore. Casia was going to be a regular at Fangtasia now. She could see some new faces, particularly a blonde with a kind-looking face that reminded her of Sophia. Curious, she stood up.

The female vampire was near the bar drinking a bottle of True Blood. Casia figured she would be nice. "Hi," she started. She hoped the vampire was friendly. "I like your dress." She pointed to the shimmering blue bubble dress the female was wearing and then nervously combed her fingers through her silky blonde hair. She was obviously not from this town. Casia was curious where she was from. There were a lot of new people coming to Bon Temps, not that Casia was complaining. She felt there needed to be new faces than the one with the local drawl and farm girl booty shorts.

Tonight, Sophia was celebrating. Last night, Michael had proposed, and she'd accepted. She would go to Fangtasia tonight and enjoy herself. She woke up as soon as the sun set, rocketing from her luxurious blood-red coffin and up the stairs to the shower. It took her only a minute to remove the day's residue, but took her nearly fifteen minutes to blow dry and curl her hair satisfactorily. As soon as she was happy with it, she flitted back to the 'bedroom' and stepped into her black tiered cocktail dress and matching black peep-toes. She did her make-up quickly, having recently perfected the smoky-eye look. She topped it off with a little gloss, and was finally ready for a night out. She slid gracefully into the driver's seat of her brand new navy blue Shelby Mustang GT500 convertible. Sophia took a moment to enjoy her new baby, lightly touching the leather steering wheel, taking in the new car smell.

Before she bought the car, Michael taught her how to drive a stick. Even in heels, she'd gotten good at it rather quickly. Something to say about those incredible vampire reflexes. She waited for the top to come down, and with a slight smirk, she turned the car on, revving the engine a few times before putting it in reverse and gunning out of the driveway and onto the street. Once she was angled properly, she sped forward like she'd been doing it for years. She was sure she could outrace nearly anyone who crossed her path. To test her theory, she took the highway to Shreveport. Her Shaker 1000 was pounding to some sort of new rap song called "Move if You Wanna."

Ha! Perfect! A Dodge Challenger pulled up next to her, and she was only doing 100 MPH in low 5th gear. He tried to pass her, but she wasn't one to lose at anything. She let him get a bit of a head start, knowing he would need it to even stand a chance. After all, sometimes men's egos needed boosting. She rolled her eyes as he passed, checking her out in the rearview mirror. After he was about a half mile ahead of her, she pressed the accelerator further to the floor. It took only a few seconds before she was nearly door-to-door, and let out a laugh that was almost a cackle. In one fluid motion, she engaged the clutch and shifted into sixth, the highest gear. Almost instantly, she was traveling at 200 MPH, because she'd removed the electronic safety gear, giving her another 70 MPH. Needless to say, she was gone, leaving the Challenger driver confused in his tracks.

She didn't feel the need to downshift until she was nearly to Fangtasia, and with a disappointed sigh shifted into a lower gear before zipping into a parking spot. Sophia turned the engine off, spinning the keys around her finger before she put them in her clutch. She opened the door, stepping out of the car like a girl in a music video. She was feeling sexy and was ready to party. It didn't take long to get into the bar, and even less time for her to saunter over to her usual seat at the bar, which happened to be next to another gorgeous vampire. Existence was splendid at the moment, there was no denying it. She didn't even have to order her usual B Negative Trublood; the bartender knew her usual now. She spun around in her chair, scoping out the place to find who her first dance partner would be. The vampire next to her looked fun, and was also drinking a B negative. Sophia laughed, happy as can be, and turned to the vampire. **"I haven't met another B Negative drinker in a while. It's the second most rare, so most prefer the rarest they can find. Hello, I'm Sophia."** She extended her hand to the girl.

Amelia watched the human girl next to her from the corner of her eye. She listened to her order her alcoholic drink and noticed the looks she was getting. Sure, she had received the same look from most the other people in the bar, they must not be used to a new face, Amelia shrugged the looks off. However, who wanted to sit alone at the bar? No one. People went to bars to meet people. Well, in this case, vampire. She smiled to herself amused by her own train of thought.

She held the bottle of her True Blood up to her lips and chugged down a big swig of it. Delicious. Well, not the best, but close enough to it. She much preferred human blood, but she wouldn't allow herself to get any. Mainstreaming could be tough. Especially since this whole True Blood thing is a new thing. Spending many years drinking human blood could spoil a vampire. There were some who refused to mainstream and continued to live a savage life of murdering humans. Amelia shivered lightly at the thought of all the humans she murdered. Most of them were accidental, when she starved herself out of anger and lost control and drained a human.

Amelia refused to bring down her night by thinking of that, she shoved the thought from her mind. She hadn't even noticed the human girl greet her until she saw her run her hand through her hair, "Bonjour," she replied politely, hoping she didn't frighten the girl, "and thank you," she smiled her white-toothed smile. "You look lovely tonight, as well," she added looking the girl up and down. "Are you a regular here?" she asked curiously.

Amelia waited for a reply from the human girl but watched as a vampire entered the room like she owned the place. Of course, Amelia knew she didn't, but what confidence. She followed her to the seat next to her, "Oh, I haven't either," she replied excitedly, perhaps more excited the the occasion called for. She grinned, "I can't stand any other kind," at least from the bottle. She could stand any kind of blood from a human, but she pushed that though away once again, "I'm Amelia," she introduced herself to both the human girl and the vampire. She wasn't used to shaking hands, she was more of the nod at greeting type, but after a second of hesitation she took the vampire's hand and shook it. "Nice to meet you, Sophie and.." she added politely and looked at the human for a name.

Sophia nearly bounced off of the chair when she saw Casia sitting next to Amelia. How could she not've notice her best friend sitting a chair away? **"Casia, dearest!"** She almost knocked Casia off of her stool as she hugged her happily. As always, Sophia was careful not to crush her human friend. Feeling almost bad for nearly squeezing her to death, Sophia smiled, obviously slightly embarrassed. She fetched her bottle of TruBlood and moved her stool in front of her best friend and her new friend, forming a triangle of sorts. She thought it would be easier to speak as a group this way, instead of being in a line and having to play a game of telephone.

This would undoubtedly be a great night. She wondered if she would become friends with everyone in the bar by the end of the night, laughing to herself at the thought. It wasn't unlikely, but she was absolutely content to be relaxing with a couple of friends. She would tell Casia later why she was so happy, but for now, it was time to get to know Amelia.

**"Amelia, you look absolutely stunning, if you don't mind me saying, as do you, Casia."** She knew Casia wasn't one for accepting compliments, but she would get over it eventually. The girl was absolutely gorgeous. **"By the way, Amelia, B Negative is very hard to find in this area, except for Fangtasia. I keep a few bottles at my home, so if you're having trouble finding one, I would be happy to share."** She wasn't sure how Amelia felt about mainstreaming. It was a subject that varied with each vampire, much like politics varied with humans.

Sophia, for example, was a bit of a mix. She would drink TruBlood as much as possible, but she would treat herself with real blood every once in a while. Almost always it was from a willing source, but as Eric once said, a source is always willing. She hated removing the free will of humans, but there was a reason vampires were able to glamour. As she'd said many times, vampires and humans were nearly equal, but because vampires'd had a predator-prey relationship with humans since the beginning of their existences, vampires were slightly superior. Of course, she did not view Casia any differently than she would view a vampire, and there was vampire trash just like there was human trash. Truly, it all depended on the person.

**"I apologize if you have already explained this to Casia, but where are you from, Amelia? You do not have a Southern drawl, though your voice doesn't really match my Northern accent either."** Sophia then zipped her lips, silently vowing to let the others get a word in.

Casia smiled, noticing the vampire's French accent. She was elated to find someone else out of this town. Bon Temps was becoming more and more diverse it seemed. She smoothed the hem of her dress. "Thanks." She pulled up a chair next to the bar. "This is my second time coming here, but I'm visiting my childhood friends Bon Temps. I'm more familiar with that neighborhood than with Shrevport. She hailed a waitress over and ordered a Tequila and lime. She wanted to mix it up a little from her usual Rum and Coke. She noticed another figure sat on the other side of the vampire but didn't pay too much attention. She was busy eyeing the waitress for her drink.

Suddenly she heard the familiar shrill of a very beautiful voice. "Sophia! Oof!" she squealed as her vampire friend hugged her enthusiastically. "I didn't know you'd be here! How are things! How's Michael?" Casia turned to her new vampire acquaintence. "I'm Casia, and we know each other," she said, gesturing to Sophia. She felt a little more confident in front of the foreign vampire now that she'd establish that she had Sophia as a vampire friend. As always, Casia never failed to blush at Sophia's compliment. "Thank you," she mumbled with a smile. "You look stunning yourself." She touched Sophia's outfit.

The waitress came back with her Tequila and Casia squeezed the lime in it, then took a sip. The tequila burned the back of her soft throat and she coughed and sputtered. "I'm okay!" she said, holding up a hand. She took a napkin from a nearby napkin holder- for the humans, she assumed- and wiped the droplets off her dress before they seeped in. She couldn't help but giggle at her clumsiness. She knew better than to be embarassed in front of a couple of vampires. They should expect this sort of thing from a human.

"We actually didn't get too far in conversation yet. She does have a very interesting accent! I like it very much. Sounds like Southern France," she said, narrowing her eyes, trying to pinpoint the nuances of the accent. "I agree, it's very different from my New England accent. Mine is much lazier than yours, Sophia," she commented, grinning. Casia had grown up in the suburbs and after spending some time with Sookie and Jason, she'd picked up a bit of the Southern drawl. It was now incorporated into her everyday speech.

Furrowing her eyebrows trying to figure out the differences between the accents present in their little circle, Casia had forgotten to check on Eric. Her head shot up as she looked in his direction. She saw that he was done with his business affairs and was now staring at her, smiling in that attractively devious way of his. "Hey guys, I'll talk to you later in the evening. Right now I have to visit my boy toy," she whispered. She picked up her glass. "It was a pleasure meeting you Amelia! I'm sure we'll meet again in here." She turned to Sophia and gave her a noisy kiss on her cheek. "I'll see you around." She fixed her dress and hair, and abruptly changed her poise to that of a model's and strutted over to Eric's corner.

Sophia chuckled as her human friend nearly spit out her liquor. She made the motion to help clean the droplets from Casia's dress, but Casia already had that covered. **"I am here a few nights a week. I come here and socialize, and Michael practices his violin, though after nearly a century, I do not see how he could get any better. Nevertheless, it is his passion. We are doing quite well. I have some news to share with you later."** Sophia fingered her engagement ring that was providing a new weight to her finger. After a century of her finger being bare, the 1.5 carat ring was taking some getting used to.

Sophia had zoned out slightly, but snapped up at the word 'France.' **"Oh, that explains it! I am a little ashamed I didn't recognize it more quickly. I was born in France in 1899, but only lived there for a few years. Combien de temps avez-vous vécu en France?"** Suddenly, Casia was kissing Sophia's cheek and standing, fixing her hair and dress. She heard something about a boy toy, and noticed Eric staring at Casia. Casia had missed a strand of hair as she was fixing it, so Sophia flitted to in front of her and fixed it quickly. She doubted Casia even noticed. When she returned to Amelia, Sophia sat in the chair Casia had just vacated, and waited to learn about her new friend.

"Thank you," she said politely to Sophia with a toothy smile. She eyed her up and down once more, "I believe I have those shoes as well," she commented on the lovely black heels. They were very comfortable, and she had debated on wearing them this night or not, good thing she hadn't. She hated when someone showed up in similar clothes as she. "And it is lovely to meet you, Casia," she commented with another friendly nod.

"Is it, now?" she asked conversationally. B negative was rare, but she was always able to get a bottle of it no matter where she was. It makes sense though, if she were to head over to New Orleans they would have all types, but Shreveport and Bon Temps were just too small to support all the blood types. She smiled, "thank you, I will have to remember that," she wouldn't likely intrude and ask for any, it was out of character for her. She would just suck it up and drink another kind or import B negative some a more populous area.

"Close," Amelia smiled at Casia, "I'm actually from Northern France," she said with a nod. She loved her time in France. It was just lovely growing up there, well, except the whole revolution. It didn't effect her too much, but she knew what was going on. "Where are you two from?" she asked curiously as she tried to pinpoint their accents. She wasn't any good at it though. Casia has mild southern drawl to her voice, which meant she wasn't raised in the south, and she couldn't quite pinpoint Sophia. That happened a lot with centuries of moving around as a vampire. It was amazing that Amelia kept her French accent so strong. Of course she spent the last decade living in France. She would always go back there when she had no where else to go.

"Who is Micheal?" Amelia asked, "if you don't mind me asking." She looked at Sophia with pure curiosity, living by herself often made her foreign to the ways the vampires lived now. She nodded at Casia as she made her exit, "it was lovely meeting you, as well, I hope to see you again," she smiled politely, then turned her attention to the man that stole Casia's attention. "He's cute," she commented to Sophia softly, "who is he?" she asked and brought her blue gaze back to Sophia.

A spark lit up in Amelia's eyes, "Lovely!" she sounded like a child at Christmas. "Je suis né là en 1798," she grinned, "I love my home country," she commented. She was excited to meet another French-vampire. She hadn't met too many while she lived there. Her entire face lit up with excitement. "Were you turned in France?" she asked curiously. Amelia was glad that she was still fluent in her native tongue after moving around so often. "Where were you born and raised?" She knew this was a touchy subject for some vampires, but she would share her information with no problem.

Conversation flowed so easily between Sophia and Amelia, like they were old friends. Sophia wished she knew more French, but it had been years since she'd had reason to speak it. She and Michael had visited Paris from time to time, but it was uncomfortable being stuck in a coffin on a plane overseas. She felt so vulnerable, and it was very uncomfortable. She liked to be in control of her surroundings. She'd always felt that way, except when she and Michael were intimate. It was the one time she preferred to relinquish control. She could not wait to return home to him.

Sophia returned her focus to her new friend, who'd posed a few questions. **"Michael is my maker and mate. We have been together since I was human, though he was vampire when I met him. And that,"** she gestured to Eric with a grin, **"is the Sheriff of the area. He also happens to be Casia's boy toy, as she stated. I met both Casia and Eric very recently, so I am afraid I cannot give you much detail. As for myself, I lived in France until I was ten, when my parents decided the social scene was not up to their standard. We moved to New York City, where I began my life as a debutante. I met Michael one night as I snuck away from one of the balls. We lived in Massachusetts after he turned me, spending most of our time on the campus of Harvard and MIT. I visit France from time to time, though my French is very rusty."** She realized she'd been rambling.

Sophia decided it would be Amelia's turn to divulge too much information, and be the center of attention. **"Now that I've told you my life story, please, indulge my curiosity. I would love to learn more about you. You are, after all, more than twice my age. I am sure you have quite the repertoire of interesting stories."** She took a drink of her TruBlood, settling in to listen to Amelia.

Amelia smiled with delight. Oh how she loved history, especially personal histories. She listened intently to Sophia's story. So her maker turned out to stick with her? That's lovely. Happy endings are always a favorite. A sting of heartbreak poked her in the chest at the thought of her maker, but she shoved the thoughts away. She wouldn't let that ruin the night. "That's lovely, I'd love to meet Micheal," she added to Sophia's long speech.

Once Eric was brought up again her gaze moved back to him, "so he has power?" she asked herself mostly. Not that it mattered to her who had the power or not, but she was often drawn towards those who had power. She, of course, wouldn't want them on her bad side. However, she shook the line of thought from her mind and returned her attention to her new friend. "I haven't been to New England in about a century," she commented with a smile. "It is so lovely there," she nodded and brought her bottle of True Blood up to her lips and took a swig of it.

Now it was her turn to share her story, she smiled a toothy grin and nodded, "alright," she started trying to decide where to start. She decided the best place would be the beginning. "I grew up in France with my parents during the French Revolution," she paused to think back, her memory was good but she choose to block out certain thoughts. The story of her turning was a little touchy for the vampire, but she was willing to share to those who asked. As long as the one receiving the story didn't judge her for it.

"I fell in love with a Spaniard who was visiting France, we had a winter of a secret romance, my parents wouldn't of approved of a Spanish man in the family" if she were able to blush she would be right now, she looked away from Sophia to regain her confidence. "He turned me the summer after my twenty-second birthday," _against my will_, she added in her mind, but didn't want to burden her new friend with that. She brought her eyes back up to Sophia. "We traveled the world. We went everywhere, I've been to every country in the world," she announced, obviously proud of that fact.

"Eventually, Lawrence and I just grew apart, had different views on how to be vampire," her voice tensed up a bit at this part of the story, "so we separated, and I ended up back in America, I was on my way to New Orleans, but I fell in love with these small towns and cities here, Shreveport is just lovely. It reminds me of my home in France, oddly enough," she added sounding brighter. She brought her True Blood back to her lips in a way to show her story was over. Sure it was a very condensed version of her life, but if Sophia wanted more details, she could just ask.

"Where were you born in France?" Amelia asked curiously, "and where did you live in Massachusetts? I lived in Boston in the early 1900's," she smiled. It was always lovely to meet new people and make new friends. Amelia felt happy all over that she had found a companion in her new town. It was so tough living by yourself and having no one to talk to. Meeting a mainstreaming vampire could be useful for herself.

Sophia listened intently, questions forming in her mind. She noticed the similarity between her history and Amelia's; they'd both been Juliets of sorts. Their Romeos would never have been approved by their families, but life just couldn't exist without them. Sophia had been lucky enough to stay with Michael, and couldn't imagine the pain Amelia had dealt with. She and Michael had scarcely spent a night apart in a century. Being separated for the rest of time was absolutely an unbearable thought. She fingered her engagement ring delicately. They were already committed to each other, but somehow this human ceremony seemed very appropriate and binding. Of course, little was more binding than the maker-child relationship, but she was thrilled when he proposed.

Amelia was turned on after she'd turned twenty-two, which meant she was physically three years older than she was, but was, in reality, over a century older than Sophia. In that time, she'd traveled to every country, a goal Sophia wished she could achieve one day. Travel, along with reading and moonlit walks, was a passion she had.

Before Sophia could ask Amelia questions, she must first answer those Amelia had asked. **"I lived in the Bordeaux region, on a vineyard. It was beautiful."** She remembered slight bits of her childhood before she moved to America. She'd loved to play on the vineyard, and help her parents gather the grapes. She was an only child, so she didn't really have anyone else to play with there. She met few children in France, which may have been why her parents moved to America. **"We moved to New York City, where I lived until 1918 when Michael turned me. We lived in Cambridge until a few weeks ago."** Now, it was her turn to ask the questions, though it would involve a little introduction.

**"I would not say I was turned into a vampire against my will, but it certainly was not planned. He was new himself, and confused the feeling of arousal with thirst. Needless to say, there was no stopping him. Though, I must admit, I don't think I would trade any of this for the world."** She hoped opening up first would help Amelia feel comfortable. Sophia knew transformation was a very touchy subject for most vampires.

Amelia watched amused as she saw the interest in Sophia's face. It had been such a long time since someone actually wanted to hear her story, and it pleased her that she wasn't boring Sophia too much. She made a note in her mind that Sophia was a good listener, perhaps a friend.

Amelia smiled and nodded in interest as Sophia answered her questions, **"lovely,"** she simply stated. She eyed Sophia's ring, **"is that an engagement ring?"** she asked curiously, then added a polite **"if you don't mind me asking."**

Although there wasn't a question in her statement, it was clear what her intention was. Amelia gave a friendly smile, **"I do not regret being turned,"** she started, **"I just wish he would of talked to me before about what the life of a vampire entailed."** She was at such a confusion after she was turned, that she just followed Lawrence around doing as he did to learn how to be a vampire. **"But, it sounds like you got lucky with your maker,"** she nodded, clearly happy that her new friend didn't have a transformation quite like hers.

Sophia hadn't realized she'd brought Amelia's eye to her ring. She gazed at it as she spoke. **"Yes, it is an engagement ring. Weddings seem to be all the rage these days, so Michael asked me to marry him. He thought I would have fun planning the wedding. To be honest, though he is my maker and we have that bond, this human creation feels more binding. Of course, it isn't really necessary, but I think it'll be fun. But you're right, I am incredibly lucky."** She returned her gaze to Amelia. She wished Amelia had been as lucky as she was, but she also knew that she was the exception to the rule. Most vampires did not stay with their maker for anywhere near as long as she had.

**"I am sorry your transformation was so confusing. Someone as kind as you should have had nothing but an easy time. I certainly hope your existence is more pleasant now than it was then."** She took a drink of her TruBlood, glancing at the bottle with a hint of disgust. She would really need to have the real thing soon. This synthetic crap was just not cutting it. **"So are you trying to mainstream? I mean, what are your opinions about vampire-human equality and this synthetic blood?"** Sophia was curious to hear what Amelia's thoughts were.

Amelia nodded, this binding of marriage wasn't as popular as it is now. It seemed to be the only thing that couples raved about, not that she minded. It was all sweet in that romantic sort of way. She hoped to one day marry a man she has fallen in love with, be it human, vampire, or otherwise. **"Congratulations,"** she said sincerely and lifted her bottle of True Blood towards the other vampire before placing it to her lips and downing the rest of the bottle. Disgusting, yet satisfying.

**"Thank you, you are such a darling,"** she complimented, smiled and nodded,** "I very much enjoy my life as it is now," **she was telling the truth for the most part. Sure, she would love to find someone to love, but living in the moment was more of an exciting way to live. Who knows what would show up? She noted the hint of disgust from drinking the True Blood, she knew she wasn't the only one who didn't like the faux-blood.

**"I am trying,"** she confirmed, **"but I find it so difficult, considering we lives so many decades on the real blood, this,"** she indicated to her empty bottle, **"is terribly disgusting."** She paused to consider her feelings towards humans,** "I do feel we have the slight upper-hand, being the predator and they being the prey for so long, but I believe we are nearly equal,"** she spoke softer as to not offend any other vampire who might disagree and over hear. She wasn't afraid, just being sensitive to their feelings on the matter.** "What do you think?"** she asked curiously, wondering if they agreed on this topic as well.

Sophia gave a **"Thank you."** to the obligatory congratulations Amelia had given her, adding a **"C'est bonne chance, je pense. J'ai de la chance."** She knew Amelia liked to be reminded of her home in France, so Sophia made a mental note to do so as much as possible. She listened as Amelia explained her stance on the mainstreaming topic, and wondered if she was accidentally speaking instead. When Sophia realized her mouth wasn't moving, and that Amelia had taken the words out of her mouth, she grinned wildly. Few vampires understood her position, let alone agreed with her!

**"I couldn't have said it better myself. We are, after all, above them on the food chain, but I try to treat them as equally as possible. I also do my best to only feed on the willing, but all humans can be made to be willing, as our sheriff so kindly reminded me. The rest of the time, I survive on this vile stuff. I swear, they must've either had a focus group full of vampires with no taste buds, or only replicated the molecules we need to survive. They completely left out taste."** Then, another thought hit Sophia, one she hadn't really considered before. **"Have you ever wondered why they decided to develop TruBlood? Someone had to find out about us, and then decide that they wanted us to be able to live in the open. Then again, it could've been developed by a vampire with poor taste. I must admit, I don't really know much about it. Do you?"** Maybe Amelia would be able to fill in the gaps in her understanding. If not, she would ask Eric.

**"Vous êtes très bienvenus,"** Amelia replied with a big grin. She agreed with Sophia's statement, **"and you are a lucky girl, I'd love to meet Micheal some time."** Amelia didn't know how much French the woman would remember, so she tried to cut down speaking in only French, which didn't bother Amelia. She enjoyed English as much as French, unless she was really angry. When she gets extremely angry all she can remember is French. Hopefully she wouldn't get that angry any time soon.

**"It's wonderful that you and I agree,"** she grinned. Amelia considered Sophia's theories, she didn't know the actual truth, but she had considered her own theories, **"I can't imagine even the most simple-minded vampire enjoying True Blood's taste,"** she laughed, **"I do have a theory,"** she confirmed. **"I think the humans were working on a blood-substitute for humans with certain diseases, but it turned out not working, maybe a vampire was working on the project with them and figured out it sustained our life? Who knows,"** she shrugged.

**"What I do know is the fact of our existence seems to have shaken the human pretty well,"** she commented. **"I knew we lived secretly before, but you would think humans would figure out something is up - I lived in houses then as well," **she thought back, **"and my neighbors were completely oblivious to the fact I was only awake at night,"** Amelia laughed softly. She shrugged, humans liked to deny things they didn't understand.

Amelia was right, the existence of vampires had jolted humanity fairly dramatically. Sophia considered what her new friend had said. **"Humans are quite oblivious to a lot of things, even the incredibly intelligent ones. I mean, I taught night classes at Harvard for years and I was only asked twice why they were at night. No one asked me why my office hours were from 2 AM to 4AM. Michael taught at MIT, and it was the same case there. Vampires in the area discovered us easily, but not the humans."**

She didn't like to sound superior to the humans, but in this case it was the truth. Vampires were more observant than humans, in most cases at least. Granted, they all had their moments. For example, she should have been paying more attention when she was attacked in the woods, but she couldn't see through her tears. She'd fought with Michael for the first time in a quarter century and had run off. Needless to say, she hadn't seen the human coming and had been pinned by the silver chains. Michael rescued her, and they had their revenge. It was quite the bonding experience.

**"I miss the days when we didn't have to be seen drinking this synthetic blood. I fortunately didn't have to hide in Cambridge because we had arranged things to our liking, so this mainstreaming thing is more of an annoyance than anything else. Humans act like we aren't a threat to them. We are, and it's our nature. Being friends with them is great, but when it comes down to it, they're food. Now, I won't be attacking Casia anytime soon, but humans need to know the threat is still there."**

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